-
Elizabeth Kenny was born on the 20th of September, 1880. She was born in a small town in Northern New South Wales called Warialda.
-
When Elizabeth was a bush nurse, she found a very sick little girl about the age of 5, the girl could hardly move! Elizabeth hadn't seen anything like this, so she called on Dr. Aeneas McDonell. Aeneas said that it was a disease and it was called infantile paralysis ( Otherwise called Polio for short ) . The doctor also said that there was only 1 cure by putting splints on their legsand/or use a cane to travel around everywhere. So from Elizabeth's researching and hard work she found a knew cure
-
Elizabeth opened a clinic in Townsville, where she treated and cured many patients while teaching the method to other nurses.
-
In 1934 the State Government opened a Kenny Clinic in Brisbane.
-
Elizabeth demonstrated the method to doctors in Brisbane and they called her a fraud. They called her a fraud because they thought that the method that she used to cure polio is not very good. When she demonstrated the method in Britain, she received better results and doctors and hospitals were enthusiastic, numerous Kenny Clinics were opened.
-
In 1938 The Royal Commission decided against Elizabeth, but she still ahd firm support of the Queensland.
-
In 1940, in the U.S.A and Canada The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis endorsed Kenny's treatment. Kenny Clinics opened across the U.S.A and Canada. 7000 American patients were treated successfully.
-
In 1950, the United States Congress passed a special Act permitting Sister Kenny to enter and leave the country whenever she wished without a passport or a visa. This privilige had only been granted only once before to a French general who had assisted the U.S.A during the War Of Independance.
-
Elizabeth Kenny died on the 30th of November, 1952. She died of complications of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease occurswhen certain nerve cells in apart of the brain called the substantia nigra die or become impaired. She was 72 when she died. She was buried beside her mother in Nobby Cemetry, Toowoomba.
